Dia do Mar

While on the subject of the sea teeming with all kinds of fish, yesterday was apparently World Sea Day, an annual day to raise awareness worldwide of issue like overfishing and pollution of the oceans. On Saturday morning we used the date to have a “sea” theme at our childrens activity, “Lusitos”, out in the square. (We’re always on the lookout for topical ideas that will be of interest to the kids.

So here’s the result of all that activity, the finished article. nice and colourful isn’t it? Just like the ocean is, in fact. And as the kids got stuck into the activities,

colouring and cutting around and, along with their parents, identifying the names, both in Portuguese and in English, of all the different fishes in the sea, I thought about how wonderfully and particularly each one is created, suited to his environment, and made to be fruitful and to fill the oceans.

Snorkelling in August with Colin in the shallow waters by Praia da Figuerinha near Setubal, an hour south from here, even there, the waters were teeming with life. Small dabs blending in with the colour of the sand, larger fish weaving in and out of the weeds, seagulls diving for a quick snack. Life is rich. God is good.

A City That has Foundations

This past weekend we descended underneath the city of Lisbon. And it was not to take the metro. Much closer to the surface and underneath the old centre of the city, the part known as Baixa Pombalina, runs a whole system of underground galleries that date back to the first century. They were built during the reign of Caesar Augustus and lay undiscovered for centuries until the city centre had to be rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1755. No-one’s totally sure what they were used for, whether for storage or for water supply, but they are well preserved. For three days in late September each year the City Museum opens up these chambers to the general public.. So we stood in a queue for an hour or more, slowly moving up the line, waiting our turn to go down through an open manhole in the middle of the street, (dodging the trams which were still running!) into the depths below. The reason they only open for these three days, is because there’s an underwater stream that floods the chambers which normally stand in four feet of water, which all has to be pumped out in order to allow visitors in

Central Lisbon built on top of water! How’s that to inspire you with confidence when you’re walking across Rossio square or down the Rua Augusta to the river. One of my most memorable moments in this underground journey (which, by the way only took about 20 minutes) was standing astride a one inch fissure in the ground that ran the length of the chamber and out of which issued clear and pure water, not the dirty water from the river nor from the sewer system. Nut sure where it was coming from, some mysterious stream of fresh water from higher ground further outside the city

Reminded me of the image Ezekiel had of a city, a city with foundations out of which flowed a stream of water, clear as crystal, a stream that eventually became a might river and brought freshness wherever it flowed. Writing in his prophecy, he describes it vividly : “I arrived at the place and saw a great number of trees on each side of the river....and where it emptied into the sea, there the water became fresh. Swarms of living creatures live wherever the river flows. Fishermen stand along the shore. from Engedi to Eglaim there were places for spreading nets. Fruit trees of all kinds grow on both sides of the river. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. The fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. (Ezekiel Chap 37)

What a vision! Here, where we live in Parque das Nações, there are fisherman dangling their lines in the murky tired waters of the Tejo. Every morning they stand by the riverside walk, and you can watch them from our balcony. And they do catch the odd fish. But imagine the life that could come if the water is cleansed, refreshed and invigorated. That’s what Christ in His mercy promises for this wonderful city of ours!

A Sense of Wonder

The older you get, the harder it is to fill your life with wonder, and its not just that our lives tend to get filled with the mundane and the commonplace. We also live, in the words of Tim Keller, in the most wonder-killing culture that ever existed.

So, driving cross the mountains of Northern Portugal in the early morning with septembral mists swirling through the valleys and the emerging colours of autumn beginning to tinge the vineyards in russets and ambers, it was good to feel that sense of wonder restored.

Wonder in a God of seasons who creates everything perfectly in its place, who changes and yet is ever the same, who demonstrates his power in totally amazing ways. And it’s not just about enjoying nature and this world we live in. But the way He works in people’s lives, the way He powerfully intervenes, the way He gently show His compassion, just when we need it. The way He speaks quietly but insistently. The way he picks us up when we’re down, and knocks us down in our arrogance and our complacency.

Back to Tim Keller again. In the sermon I quoted above, he also spoke about how we try to escape the mundanity and the ordinariness, because we need wonder in our lives.

“...We jaded contemporary western people go to the stupidest summer blockbuster movies, poorly acted, terrible character development, nothing but special effects and we lay our money down, and you know why ..... because we need to know a sense of wonder in our lives .... that fleeting realisation that there’s more to life than all this..... that there are mysterious and stupendous powers out there that can come into our impossible situation...”

August Heat

It’s that time of the year.

The city takes a breather.

The mercury rises in the thermometer

Residents pour out to the Algarve.

Or to the nearby beaches of Cascais and Caparica.

Anywhere away from the hot dry city.

The traffic across the city moves freely

The toll booths on the 25th April Bridge are empty

You can almost feel the pavements relaxing.

Tourists trip along the cobbles of Alfama and Belem.

The cafe on the corner has shut down for the month.

Fishermen cast their lines in down at the riverside.

The national flag flutters atop the Vasco da Gama tower.

Lawnmowers hum.

Sprinklers spray fresh cool water

The smell of freshly mown grass.

The playpark is empty.

Children are bored

Parents push hats on their heads and keep them indoors

And the sun beats down

it’s August

Chuva

That’s the Portuguese word for rain. Its a nice gentle word, not like the insistent driving rain that takes all the joy out of a summer holiday in Portstewart. And not the life sucking smothering monsoon rain thats currently robbing so many in Pakistan of their lives and livelihoods.

It’s also the name of a song sung by one of Portugal’s greatest exponent of the musical genre called “Fado”. I’ve tried to translate it below, but to be honest it sounds much better in Portuguese.

We arrived back in Portugal last Saturday, and woke up on Sunday morning to the gentle sound of rain falling on tired and arid ground, (and with that distinctively unique smell). It was the first fall of rain of the summer - and so so refreshing. So I’m thinking of the meaning of rain this week, and how the same thing can bring horror and wreak so much havoc in one part of the world, and be a source of so much refreshment in another.

Water being the base of our very existence, brings life ... as long as it remains within the the bounds set by the seasons. Rain unbounded is a killer and a destroyer. Meteorologists this week talk of a “supercharged jet stream” creating a dangerous imbalance in the monsoon weather system, and creating conditions for the present disaster. Life and death, prosperity and disaster, held in such a delicate balance. Rain can depress, rain can uplift. Thank God that over all the weather systems, He remains in control. This world with its rain, its drought, its heat and its storms. The seasons. It all may seem in uproar, out of control. But God’s in charge

Chuva

The common things in life ................... As coisas vulgares que há na vida

Leave us with no longing or regret......... Não deixam saudades

Only the things which cause us pain........ Só as lembranças que doem

Or make us smile ............................. Ou fazem sorrir

There are days that mark the soul......... Há dias que marcam a alma

And the life of a people .....................e a vida da gente

And the day you left me..................... e aquele em que tu me deixaste

I can never forget ............................ não posso esquecer

The rain drenched my face ................. A chuva molhava-me o rosto

Cold and tired ................................Gelado e cansado

The streets of the city...................... As ruas que a cidade tinha

Each one I wandered ........................Já eu percorrera

The rain heard and kept silent ........... A chuva ouviu e calou

My secret from the city ................... meu segredo à cidade

Listen to how it beats on the glass ...... E eis que ela bate no vidro

Bringing that memory back ............... Trazendo a saudade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzrUs08-SWs

Here’s another “rain” songs I happen to like.

John Lee Hooker’s drumming account of a great flood that hit the town of Tupelo in Mississippi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GOCAC8FCqE

Any others out there?

The Lion Inside of Me

While on the subject of the spirituality or mysticism of Van Morrison’s music, the tracks that stand out for me beyond the seminal “Astral Weeks” are “You Don’t Pull no Punches” from the Veedon Fleece album and “Listen to the Lion” from Saint Dominic’s Preview.

For this latter song, as with much of Morrison’s more introspective music, it’s not so much the lyrics, as the way he sings them. After all the poetry in itself is pretty sparse

Oh, listen listen


To the lion


Oh, listen listen listen


To the lion...
Inside of me


Oh, oh, oh



And I shall search my soul


I shall search my very soul


And I shall search my very soul


I shall search my very so-o-oul



For the lion


For the lion


For the lion


For the lion...
Inside of me

But its the growls, the grunts and scats that make the song. The artist expressing the living breathing lion inside of him. And don’t we all have that? That inner self that wants to break out of the humdrum workaday life, to find expression and give vent to a mighty roar of “THIS IS WHO I AM” into the jungle of this world.

I have often been intrigued by the image of Jesus as the “Lion of Judah” that John paints in the Book of Revelation (Rev 5:7). I mean its only a single reference unlike the messianic metaphors of lamb, light, shepherd which pretty much run right throughout the Old and New Testaments. And its also a metaphor thats been taken up variously by Judaism, Ethiopian nationalism and the Rastafari reggae music of the West Indies, and C S Lewis of course in his Narnia books

John uses the metaphor it in direct contrast to the Lamb, looking as it had been slain (Rev 5:6) - meekness and power, suffering and triumph, gentleness and strength. Its a fantastic picture.

So Jesus is this Lion inside of me, roaring, His word consuming my being. Jeremiah talks about the Word of God being in his heart like a fire, a fire shut up in his bones. He is weary from holding it in. And that rugged old shepherd of Tekoa, Amos, declares in his prophecy, that the Lord is like a Lion

“The lion has roared, who will not fear.

The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Who can but prophesy.” Amos 3:8

So ROAR, King Jesus. Consume me from within. Proclaim your lordship over my life. Declare yourself to be King of all creation

In the Garden

I was listening to a song on my ipod yesterday called “Garden” by Misty Edwards and it put me in mind of the track by Van Morrison, “in the Garden” from his album “No Guru, no Method no Teacher” that gripped me back in the eighties . Misty is a worship leader with the International House of Prayer, and the song is a relentless eight and a half minutes celebration of the intimacy God seeks to have with us if we would only draw near.

It's You and me alone God,

You and me alone

Here it's You and me alone

God, You and me alone...

Strikes me afresh just what a garden is. It’s an enclosed space. It’s a marked off territory that is owned by someone , cultivated by someone and to be enjoyed by someone. That’s why it was a garden planted in Eden and not a wilderness space, that became the backdrop for the creation of Adam. That’s where he found intimacy with his creator God. And in each one of our lives there’s a cultivated space that’s to be protected and kept. A place to retreat to and find oneself alone.

“And I felt the presence of the youth of eternal summers in the garden

Alright, and as it touched your cheeks so lightly

Born again you were and blushed

And we touched each other lightly

And we felt the presence of the Christ

Within our hearts in the garden

And I turned to you and I said

"No guru, no method, no teacher

Just you and I and nature

And the Father in the garden"

Listen, no guru, no method, no teacher

Just you and I and nature

And the Father and the Son

And the Holy Ghost in the garden wet with rain”

Amazing lyrics from the 1986 Van Morrison track, and maybe it won’t tick everybody’s theological boxes, but it’s an insight into the spiritual longing of the artist – a longing for intimacy, for acceptance, for transcendence and for understanding of the divine.

Back to Misty Edwards. She writes, in an interview

"I have a great desire to see the knowledge of God flood this generation. I mean the real knowledge of God, not the distant Sunday School version but the true encounter with the Uncreated. I have devoted my life to searching Him out through His Word, prayer and fasting, and to ask Him to reveal Himself in my day and time. There's no other point for my existence but to touch the Transcendent.”

That hungry generation was very evident at New Horizon last week. So good to see so many young people (and old) hungry for God and seeking his face here on the north coast of Northern Ireland

Van Morrison http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Guru-Method-Teacher/dp/B0018PJF0W

Misty Edwards http://www.amazon.co.uk/Relentless-Misty-Edwards/dp/B001V6F840/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1280307941&sr=1-1